Category: BC Politics

On fracking, ferries, and forestry, BC voters promised lots of reviews

There are lots of issues the BC NDP is avoiding getting pinned down on and opting instead to offer “reviews” or “audits” before announcing decisions.  So, voters in BC will go to the polls on May 14 without ever knowing where the BC stand on the following issues (page references are to the BC NDP Platform): Continue reading On fracking, ferries, and forestry, BC voters promised lots of reviews

Greens poised to rain on BC NDP parade on Vancouver Island

We talked to Jane Sterk, who is the leader of the Green Party of BC and who, as the Green candidate in Victoria-Beacon Hill, will be trying to knock off BC NDP incumbent (and former BC NDP leader) Carole James.  Continue reading Greens poised to rain on BC NDP parade on Vancouver Island

Pick a fight with the auditor general? Great idea, Premier Clark! A real vote-winner!

Environment Minister Terry Lake
VANCOUVER – BC Environment Minister Terry Lake, pictured here in July, 2012, is picking a fight with B.C. Auditor General John Doyle. (CARMINE MARINELLI/QMI AGENCY)

I have a bright shiny loonie in my pocket that I promise to give to whoever can point me to an example of any government anywhere in Canada that wins a showdown with their auditor general. I start from the assumption that, if you are a prime minister or a premier and the auditor general says your government is screwing up, it’s likely best to quietly agree, say you’ll fix the problem and move on, even if you don’t agree, rather than pick a fight with your auditor general. The reasoning here is that voters tend to believe auditors general and they tend not to believe politicians. I fully recognized that there is a great variety in abilities of auditors general across the country and a great variety in politicians but, when these two worlds collide, it matters not and so, I give you this First General Rule of Politics: Auditors General Are Always Right.

And yet, in British Columbia, the B.C. Liberal government of Christy Clark, likely in its final weeks in any event, has decided to essentially declare that B.C. Auditor General John Doyle is incompetent, doesn’t know what he’s doing, and got it all wrong when he concluded that the B.C. government approach to making itself ‘carbon neutral” is not only a monumental waste of taxpayer money it is failing to reach any of the policy objectives that money was supposed to buy. Continue reading Pick a fight with the auditor general? Great idea, Premier Clark! A real vote-winner!

The polls are worse than they look for Christy Clark and the BC Liberals.

In the 1996 provincial election in British Columbia, the BC Liberals won the popular vote, with 41.82% of all votes cast going to the party that was then led by Gordon Campbell. The BC NDP, under incumbent Premier Glen Clark, finished on election night with 39.45% of the popular vote, a drop of about about one percentage point from the previous general election.

And yet, though Clark lost the popular vote to Campbell, Clark won a majority of seats in the BC legislature. Clark’s caucus had 39 MLAs, Campbell’s had 33. There were three in the “other” category.

How does one explain that? Continue reading The polls are worse than they look for Christy Clark and the BC Liberals.

BC Liberals issue press release telling Clark to step down

Vikram Bajway, B.C. Liberal
B.C. Liberal Party member Vikram Bajwa (Handout photo)

Any Parliamentary Press Gallery journalist who has been around for a few years can tell you that federal Liberals can be a vicious bunch although they usually prefer sticking the knives into their opponents under the cloak of anonymity — the “senior Liberal source” you’ve no doubt read a lot about.

It’s refreshing then to see that, in B.C. politics, those who would stick the knives into members of their own party are not only not anonymous, they actually issue press releases with photos! Continue reading BC Liberals issue press release telling Clark to step down

VIDEO: BC Premier Christy Clark fights the sceptics ahead of budget day

While the federal government and governments in Ontario and Alberta — to name just two — are wallowing in red ink, Christy Clark’s Liberal government in B.C. could table a budget Tuesday in Victoria that promises the elimination of its deficit within the year. And yet, Clark’s government is struggling to find favour with voters. From earlier tonight on Battleground on Sun News Network, our Vancouver reporter Jill Bennett tells us what Clark and her finance minister Mike de Jong were saying and then I check in with Vancouver 24 Hours columnist (and Adrian Dix supporter) Bill Tieleman on the budget, new BC Liberal nominations and the significance of Clark cabinet minister Pat Bell’s decision to take a break from politics once the writ is dropped.

A magical future awaits B.C. thanks to natural gas!

B.C. Premier Christy Clark
B.C. Premier Christy Clark, photographed in Halifax last year, is betting big on natural gas. (REUTERS/Adam Scotti)

British Columbia’s Lt Gov Judith Guichon delivered a rather remarkable Speech from the Throne this afternoon in Victoria. After failing to meet for than eight months, the government of B.C. Liberal Christy Clark convened this afternoon for what will be a very short session ahead of a May 14 provincial election.

It was remarkable because, within only a handful of sitting days ahead of it, this speech from the throne could not do what most speeches from the throne do, namely lay out what kind of legislation the government will present to the legislature. Instead it was largely aspirational, looking ahead to a future in B.C. when natural gas has done for that province what oil has done for Alberta. Continue reading A magical future awaits B.C. thanks to natural gas!